Octave j



0.1. $1. PIERRE.

LIFE PRESERVER.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 19. 1918.

1,316,816. 1 PatentdSept. 23,191

0L /6' L 4L 5 gwuwfioz Oeiave J c'fijj zlerfie attorney OCTAVE 3'. ST. PIERRE, OF CHAUVIN, ALBERTA, CANADA.

mrnrnnsnnvnn.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 23, 1919.

Application filed March 19, 1918. Serial No. 223,355.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OGTAVE J. ST. PIERRE, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Chauvin, in the Province of Alberta and Dominion of Canada, have invented new and useful Improvements in Life-Preservers, of which the following is a specification.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive and elficient life preserving apparatus designed especially for Army and Navy use while equally adapted for insuring the safety of sea side and other bathers and so constructed as to be readily fitted to the body either while in the water or before entering the same, and having an adaptability as to size which enables a single device tobe used more or less universally.

With these and similar objects in view the invention consists in the construction, combination and relation of parts hereinafter specifically set forth, it being understood that changes in form, proportion and details may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawing Figure 1 is a side view of a device embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a rear or front view of the same (the position of the apparatus on the body of the wearer being interchangeable).

Fig. 3 is a transverse section of one member of the inflatable easing on the plane indicated by the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4. is a detail view in perspective of a modified construction of the device.

The apparatus consists especially of interchangeable front and rear casing members 10 which are inflatable and are adapted if desired to contain pneumatic tubes 11, said casing members being connected by spaced shoulder straps 12 which are preferably hollow to afford communication between said casing members and are spread or deflated as indicated more clearly in Fig. 2 to permit of the passage of the head of the wearer so that said straps may rest upon the shoulders close enough to the neck of the wearer to avoid any possibility of interference with the movements of the arms as in swimming. Connected with each of the easing members is a flexible inflating device consisting of a tube 13, the purpose in pro viding each casing with such a device being to provide for the inflation of: the complete apparatus 1) the wearer after the device had been tCl1HStGCl, regardless of which casing member may be arranged at the front, said inflating tube being made, of such length as to be accessible to the mouth of the wearer.

Attached to or formed suitably in connection with each of the casing members and at opposite edges thereof are fastening devices consisting of flanges or cars 14, preferably of flexible material and having openings or eyes 15 for engagement by waist cords or thongs 16 the members of which extend in opposite directions and are adapted to be tied as indicated in Fig. 1 to maintain the casing members in the desired positions in contact respectively with the front and back of the wearer. By reason of the plurality of attaching eyes the holding means may be arranged at any desired level to suit the waist line of the wearer.

In Fig. 4 a slightly modified form of the apparatus is illustrated, the same being of more simple construction in that there is no provision for the communication of air from one casing member to the other through hollow shoulder straps, but on the other hand said casing members 17 are independent and are connected at their upper ends by shoulder straps 18 which are spaced as -in the preferred form to pass on either side of the neck of the wearer and rest upon the shoulders but may be made of any suitable flexible material such as tape or leather to properly conform to the wearers shoulders. With this construction of the device a plurality of inflating means 19, one for each casing member must be employed, but similar waist securing devices including the eyes 20 are adaptable to this construction.

- It will be obvious from the foregoing description that a device of this kind may be manufactured at a comparatively small cost and may be packed or stored in a very small space and may be applied to the wearer with a minimum amount of effort and loss of time and when so applied and inflated the speed of the wearer in the water is assured while an unobstructed freedom of movement of his arms is permitted.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim 1. In a life preserver, buoyant casings adapted to be applied to the front and rear of the body, ears secured to the lower ends of said casings and projecting laterally therefrom, the said ears having spaced openings, and a cord for insertion in said openingsand adapted to pass around the ears to secure the lower ends of said casings in proper position upon the body.

2. In a life preserver, a body comprising a pair of buoyant casings of narrow width and adapted to be positioned upon the front and back of the body of the wearer, the said casings extending upon the wearers body from the'waist to the neck and spaced inwardly from the wearers sides, neck'pieces connecting the upper ends of said casings and disposed over the shoulders one upon each side of the wearers neck, and ears at the lower ends of said casings and secured to the inner sides of the latter, the said ears projecting beyond the sides of their respective casings and having a series of openings disposed vertically to receive the ends of cords passing around the waist of the wearer.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

OCTAVE J. ST. PIERRE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

